The World Bank Corruption Index, also known as the World Bank "control of corruption" (CoC)- index is a corruption measurement, similar to Transparency International's CPI (Corruption Perception Index). As the name indicates, it is put together by the World Bank and "measures perceptions of the extent to which public power is exercised for private gain, including both petty and grand forms of corruption, as well as ‘capture’ of the state by elites and private interests"[1] The CoC-index scale goes from -2.5 (very corrupted) to 2.5 (not corrupted at all)[2].
Overview
Control of Corruption is one out of six factors in the World Bank's Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) research program that was launched in 1996. The other five dimensions of the WGI's viewpoint on good governance include Voice and Accountability, Political Stability and Violence, Government Effectiveness, Rule of Law, and Regulatory Quality. The CoC- index is made by combining the survey results from 32 different data sources, which involve both companies, experts, and citizens.[3] The data sources have varied over the years, including surveys made by for example Gallup Millennium Survey, World Economic Forum, and The World Business Environment Survey. Every source have included different dimensions in their survey, including for instance "Percent who believe the government is corrupt" (Gallup Millennium Survey), "additional bureaucracy and judiciary payments" (World Economic Forum), and "Frequency of additional payments, dishonest courts, corruption as obstacle to business, Bribery (% of Gross revenues)" (The World Business Environment Survey.[4]
Procedure
The index is, as mentioned, similar to the CPI while still being different on many points. For example, the CoC-index covers more countries but includes fewer data sources in many countries than the TI's CPI, making the CoC's results more commensurable but in some cases less reliable than the CPI[5]. The sources used in the CoC- index are partly the same as the ones used in TI's CPI-index,and covers questions based both on experience and on precption[6]. When the survey results are available, weighted averages are calculated in the following order: The individual questions pertaining to "control of corruption" are collected together. All answers are then rescaled to get a value of between 0 and 1 (where 0 is "bad" and 1 is "good"). Then, a statistical tool is used for constructing weighted averages from -2.5 to 2.5.[7]
Finland
Finland's CoC- score was 2.19 in 2013, while it was as high as 2.48 ten years earlier, in 2003. For Finland, the World Bank used four different sources for the CoC- index 1996, while nine different sources were used for the CoC- index in 2013[8]. The individual sources that have had the most significant impact on lowering Finland's result have been The Gallup world Poll (from 0.92 in 2006 to 0.72 in 2013) as well as the Institute for management & development World Competitiveness Yearbook (from 0.96 in 2003 to 0.85 in 2013). In case of The Gallup World Poll, the result is derived by sending a survey to a certain amount of households in Finland. As for the variable "control of corruption", the only question asked is "Is corruption in government widespread?". This means that Finland's score has dropped partly because of the Finnish households' perceptions of how widespread corruption is in the Finnish government[9].
The WBC index has been criticized for the Political Transparency- part giving too much attention to factors that pertain to democracy in general rather than transparency and corruption, such as free speech.[10] So far, the CoC- index has also been used for such a short period of time that it is hard to draw any conclusions from it.[11] In addition to this, the entire WGI program has also been criticized for the indicators not measuring what they are supposed to measure, in other words lack of validity caused by the use of wrong data. This is because of the fact that the WGI uses third-party sources for collecting some of the data, and these parties' methodologies and definitions might vary significantly from the WGI's. Hence, the result might be that the collected data does not measure the same variable as the data in the "final product" suggests.[12] The surveys' results are also based on peoples' subjective perceptions on eg. corruption, resulting in decreased reliability. This issue is known for most measures for corruption, since relying on subjective perceptions data is one of the few ways to get any corruption-data at all.
^ Thomas, M.A. (2010): What do the Worldwide Governance Indicators measure? European Journal of Development Research, 22, 1, pp 33. Available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/ejdr.2009.32
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^ Braun, Miguel; di Tella Rafael (2004): Inflation, Inflation Variability, and Corruption. Economics & Politics, 16, 1, pp 96.
Available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0343.2004.00132.x
Fetched on 21.11.2014.
^ Andersson, S. and Heywood, P.M. (2009): The Politics of Perception: Use and Abuse of Transparency International's Approach to Measuring Corruption. Political Studies, 57 (4), pp 756.
Available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9248.2008.00758.x
fetched on 22.11.2014
^ Egger, Peter; Winner, Hannes (2006): How Corruption Influences Foreign Direct Investment: A Panel Data Study. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 54, 2, p.478
Abstract available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/497010
Fecthed on 21.11.2014.
^ Thomas, M.A. (2010): What do the Worldwide Governance Indicators measure? European Journal of Development Research, 22, 1, pp 35. Available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/ejdr.2009.32
Fetched on 21.11.2014.
Introduction
The World Bank Corruption Index, also known as the World Bank "control of corruption" (CoC)- index is a corruption measurement, similar to Transparency International's CPI (Corruption Perception Index). As the name indicates, it is put together by the World Bank and "measures perceptions of the extent to which public power is exercised for private gain, including both petty and grand forms of corruption, as well as ‘capture’ of the state by elites and private interests"[1] The CoC-index scale goes from -2.5 (very corrupted) to 2.5 (not corrupted at all)[2].
Overview
Control of Corruption is one out of six factors in the World Bank's Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) research program that was launched in 1996. The other five dimensions of the WGI's viewpoint on good governance include Voice and Accountability, Political Stability and Violence, Government Effectiveness, Rule of Law, and Regulatory Quality. The CoC- index is made by combining the survey results from 32 different data sources, which involve both companies, experts, and citizens.[3] The data sources have varied over the years, including surveys made by for example Gallup Millennium Survey, World Economic Forum, and The World Business Environment Survey. Every source have included different dimensions in their survey, including for instance "Percent who believe the government is corrupt" (Gallup Millennium Survey), "additional bureaucracy and judiciary payments" (World Economic Forum), and "Frequency of additional payments, dishonest courts, corruption as obstacle to business, Bribery (% of Gross revenues)" (The World Business Environment Survey.[4]
Procedure
The index is, as mentioned, similar to the CPI while still being different on many points. For example, the CoC-index covers more countries but includes fewer data sources in many countries than the TI's CPI, making the CoC's results more commensurable but in some cases less reliable than the CPI[5]. The sources used in the CoC- index are partly the same as the ones used in TI's CPI-index,and covers questions based both on experience and on precption[6]. When the survey results are available, weighted averages are calculated in the following order: The individual questions pertaining to "control of corruption" are collected together. All answers are then rescaled to get a value of between 0 and 1 (where 0 is "bad" and 1 is "good"). Then, a statistical tool is used for constructing weighted averages from -2.5 to 2.5.[7]
Finland
Finland's CoC- score was 2.19 in 2013, while it was as high as 2.48 ten years earlier, in 2003. For Finland, the World Bank used four different sources for the CoC- index 1996, while nine different sources were used for the CoC- index in 2013[8]. The individual sources that have had the most significant impact on lowering Finland's result have been The Gallup world Poll (from 0.92 in 2006 to 0.72 in 2013) as well as the Institute for management & development World Competitiveness Yearbook (from 0.96 in 2003 to 0.85 in 2013). In case of The Gallup World Poll, the result is derived by sending a survey to a certain amount of households in Finland. As for the variable "control of corruption", the only question asked is "Is corruption in government widespread?". This means that Finland's score has dropped partly because of the Finnish households' perceptions of how widespread corruption is in the Finnish government[9].
Table: Finland's "control of corruption"- index
Source: The World Bank (http://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/index.aspx#reports)
Criticism
The WBC index has been criticized for the Political Transparency- part giving too much attention to factors that pertain to democracy in general rather than transparency and corruption, such as free speech.[10] So far, the CoC- index has also been used for such a short period of time that it is hard to draw any conclusions from it.[11] In addition to this, the entire WGI program has also been criticized for the indicators not measuring what they are supposed to measure, in other words lack of validity caused by the use of wrong data. This is because of the fact that the WGI uses third-party sources for collecting some of the data, and these parties' methodologies and definitions might vary significantly from the WGI's. Hence, the result might be that the collected data does not measure the same variable as the data in the "final product" suggests.[12] The surveys' results are also based on peoples' subjective perceptions on eg. corruption, resulting in decreased reliability. This issue is known for most measures for corruption, since relying on subjective perceptions data is one of the few ways to get any corruption-data at all.
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Available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0343.2004.00132.x
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Available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9248.2008.00758.x
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Available at: http://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/index.aspx#doc-methodology.
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Available at http://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/pdf/c73.pdf
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Downloaded from: http://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/index.aspx#doc-sources.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0192512110377602
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Abstract available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/497010
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Fetched on 21.11.2014.